Quilt Flu

My mom has a sign on the door to her sewing room at home:

Continual complaint as to need for snuggling under a handmade quilt. Patient has blank expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and kids. Has no taste for bedspreads or electric blankets. Hangs out at Quilting Bees. Mumbles to self “Log Cabin”, “Double Wedding Ring”, “Ohio Rose”…

Medication is useless, disease is not fatal. Victim should attend as many quilt shows and quilt shops as possible.”

I now understand that sign.

I guess my interest in quilting was piqued when I visited a quilt shop last fall with my mom. There were so many interesting and colorful fabrics that I had no idea existed; I was used to seeing the traditional fabrics my mom kept stockpiled in her sewing room closet when I was younger. I knew of Amy Butler, but Michael Miller? Alexander Henry? These fabrics were fantastic! So I bought two Benartex prints and whipped up Amy Butler’s Birdie Sling.

That was fun! Now what?
I mean, you can only have so many fabric bags. Enter Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.

Again, quite a different take on quilting than I was used to. The projects were simple and non-intimidating, and the use of modern fabrics made simple pincushions and lap quilts seem exciting. Quilting seemed like a daunting, time consuming hobby to me before. Now, it can be easy and quite rewarding.

I have a whole slew of projects in mind: placemats, floormats, pincushions, a small quilt to nap under, maybe a bedspread and matching pillowcases, and perhaps a wallhanging if I can muster up to the challenge. I’ve done a few practice pieces so far, such as the four patch and nine-patch blocks above. I also whipped up this set of coasters from the Last Minute Gift book:

The set of four took about 10 minutes each to quilt once I cut the fabric and batting and assembled the pieces together. It was a good intro to working with multiple layers and practicing even stitching. The odd one in the grouping was a strip pieced nine patch block that I practiced on first before I tackled the Amy Butler set.

So I’ve stocked up on lots of new fabric (which is currently in the wash right now!) and am looking forward to sharing my progress here on my new hobby!